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Communities in Hamilton and Butler counties returning to normal after abnormal day of flooding

Here's what the playground at Glendale's Lake Park looked like for hours on Tuesday.(Photo: Provided)

Community officials in Hamilton and Butler counties say things are largely returning to normal today after a decidedly abnormal day of flooding on Tuesday.

Glendale Village Administrator Walter Cordes said today that Glendale’s roads are clear, and its sewage treatment plant has been restarted after a nearby creek crested over a tall cement wall and flooded it on Tuesday.

“The creek was higher than we have ever seen it in over 35 years,” Cordes said.

For several hours on Tuesday, Lake Park, the site of a former lake, severely flooded and was again a full lake, cresting near the top of playground equipment, Cordes said.

“It looked much like Hannigan Lake pictures from 1929,” he said.

Glendale Fire Chief Kevin Hardwick said his department was busy pumping out basements and performing other duties all day on Tuesday.

“We finished the day with 32 water runs,” Hardwick said.

“Additionally, we responded to five other fire responses, one EMS and one tree down blocking the roadway.

“We had 15 firefighters helping out for the day more than 200 manhours,” Hardwick said. “All operations are now back to normal.”

Reading roads reopen

Reading Safety Service Director Patrick Ross said today that all the roads closed in the city Tuesday have been reopened.

“There were anecdotally a lot of homes with water damage in basements, especially along the creek,” Ross said.

“We did not pump any basements and I don’t believe any utilities were out.

“Our public works did move some large tree branches/logs from a couple spots in creeks to help with flow,” Ross said.

Ross said Reading is opening its public works garage the rest of the week for residents or businesses to dispose of any water-damaged items.

Ross also said that Duke Energy contacted him this morning to say it had to make emergency gas disconnections Tuesday evening to 30 customers in Reading due to high water.

“They made attempts to contact everyone that had this and said it was still disconnected at this time,” Ross said.

Sharonville saw flooding in areas 'where high water was never experienced before'

Sharonville Fire Chief Kirk Mousa said today that Tuesday was a busy day for the city’s safety services and public works employees.

“We experienced significant flooding, and in many areas where high water was never experienced before. The city’s code red emergency notification system was utilized yesterday at 10:58 a.m. to warn businesses near the Mill Creek about rising water and recommending evacuation,” Mousa said.

“At the peak of the event it was not possible to travel east to west without using Interstate 275 as the Mill Creek had flooded every east to west roadway.

“The fire department started making water-related calls before 6 a.m. and did not finish until around 8 p.m. last evening,” Mousa said.

Mousa said the department helped business and residential property owners with water-related questions and emergencies, including removing water from about 16 properties.

“The fire department has 12 sump pumps that we are able to leave behind for business or homeowner use, and three large trash pumps that we use to pump large volumes of water,” Mousa said.

“All of these were in constant use and some still remain in use today.”

“Our public works department was busy closing roads and actually had to purchase additional barricades and signs because of the extreme event,” Mousa said.

“Public works will have several days of work removing debris from culverts and storm drains.

“To my knowledge, all of the roads are open, and I am not aware of any businesses that remain closed for water-related reasons,” Mousa said.

Some West Chester Township residents likely still dealing with 'disheartening' cleanup

Tuesday’s heavy rainfall in a short period of time caused multiple road closures and the evacuation of some businesses in West Chester Township.

“All of the streets that were closed yesterday for flooding are re-opened at this point,” township spokeswoman Barbara Wilson said today.

“The flooding conditions made necessary a small road repair on Dimmick Road that crews are working on now. This is just a small, one-lane closure that motorists are able to get around.”

Wilson said she can’t say whether all West Chester businesses have re-opened.

“Some may still be closed today due to COVID-19, a few may be addressing water issues; but as home to more than 3,600 business, it’s difficult to say which ones may be impacted by water issues at this point,” Wilson said.

“We are not aware of any that are closed today due to flood damage.”

Wilson said West Chester’s community services department helped Butler County Water & Sewer pump out a pond that could potentially have caused issues at one of the county’s facilities off Dimmick Road.

Wilson also said there probably are residents still dealing today with the effects of Tuesday’s deluge.

“The rainfall yesterday was extreme and West Chester crews jumped in to protect lives and property,” Wilson said.

“There are most likely residents who still have some cleanup ahead of them and that can take some time and be really disheartening.”